 Seabra da Silva (1732–1813) was a fidalgo and close ally of Pombal in his war on the Jesuits. The present work is a translation of his 1768 work in Portuguese of Petiçaö de recurso apresentada em audiencia publica a Sua Magestade, sobre o ultimo e critico estado desta monarchia, depois que a Sociedade chamada de Jesus, foi desnaturalisada e proscripta dos dominios des França e Hispana.

It is a study of the Society of Jesus and its expulsion from Spain and France and the consequences thereof, and it was presented to Joseph of Portugal so that he might anticipate similar consequences following his order of expulsion.

 First edition: Historical novel based on the author's genealogical researches, with chapters entitled “The Exile,” “The Adventurer,” and “The Pilgrim.” Sears later in the same year issued a now-rare private edition of this work which included a spurious pedigree of Richard Sears, not present here.
The Massachusetts-born Sears was a Unitarian minister and author of the words of the famous carol, “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.”

 Sermons written by a Jesuit who preached “with an eloquence surpassed only by his holiness,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (online), which also refers to Segneri as “Italy’s greatest orator” after St. Bernadine of Siena and Savanarola.

A Roman edition also appeared in 1694, the year of the work’s first appearance; the present edition is more uncommon: We trace only one U.S. library copy of it.

 DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 1079. Boards covered in music-printed paper from an 18th-century antiphonal, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and one other stamped by a now-defunct institution. Light spotting throughout, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; some corners dog-eared. (15453)

Dolce was a Venetian humanist and prolific author, translator, and editor. He worked for Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari's press and had his hand in upwards of 96 works from that considerable printing enterprise. Why this work came from the Sessa press we do not know.

The volume is printed in italic with a spare use of woodcut headpieces and initials in the preliminaries, first leaf of text, and at the beginning of each play; the Sessa non-cat printer's device adorns the title-page. There is an error state on the last leaf (“Gli errori delle stampe si rimettono al giudicio di chi legge”).

 Schweiger, II, 946; Graesse, VI, 361; Edit16 CNCE 29883. Not in Adams. Early vellum over light paste boards, endpapers foxed; evidence of ties, later inked title on spine. Lower blank margin of title-leaf torn away and repaired with a lighter paper; one short tear on another page repaired. Light waterstaining in lower outer corners and sometimes slenderly across top margins; two small, pin-type wormholes in upper inner margins of leaves at back of volume. Final blank leaf present; all edges carmine with a little bleed-in to some margins. Overall a clean, solid, decent copy. (33383)

 John Sergeant (16221707) converted to Catholicism from the Church of England after researching the history of the early Church. He was ordained to the priesthood and undertook a career as a controversialist against Protestantism, writing many works. This one is a Catholic answer to Henry Hammond's (160560) Of Schisme, and John Bramhall's (15941663) Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism. Hammond and Bramhall were leading Anglican divines of the high-church party, and in attacking them Sergeant reveals the influence that that party still commanded, even at its lowest ebb under Cromwell. His argument is largely a defense of the Papacy against those who would assert the historical independence of the Church of England. This is the sole edition of this important Recusant work.

This is a volume that shows such controvery was definitely not “dry”; we have photographed the start of Sergeant's explanation/defense of his personal animus against his antagonist, and also the “Stationer's” description of the polemical feast to come, this worked out as a menu or “Bill of Fare ”!

Provenance: On the recto of the second front fly-leaf is a presentation inscription: “For my honnord & best frind, Master John Bulteel.” The most likely John Bulteel is the one who was created M.A. at Oxford in 1661, and later served as secretary to Edward, Earl of Clarendon.

 Wing S2589; ESTC R6168; Clancy, English Catholic Books, 16411700, 897. On Sergeant, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LI, 25153. On Bramhall, see: DNB, VI, 203206. On Hammond, see: DNB, XXIV, 24246. Contemporary mottled calf, with remnants of modest double gilt rules on covers; rubbed and joints open, front cover detached. Browning from turn-ins on fly-leaves, last leaves, and fore-edge of title-page, as well as moderately to a few signatures, with a little occasional light waterstaining; otherwise, the expectable degrees of age-toning and spotting only. (7067)

 Early, uncommon edition of this French adaptation of The Seven Sages, in which Prince Erastus is persecuted by his lustful, jealous stepmother Aphrodisia — a framing device for a series of cautionary tales told to the Emperor by the stepmother, the prince’s wise tutors, and finally the prince himself. Of Eastern (possibly Persian) origin ca. the 5th century B.C., the work spread throughout Europe in a variety of forms and first appeared in this guise in 1564, translated from an Italian rendition. All of the early printings thus are now rare, with WorldCat locatingonly one U.S. institutional holding of the present Gazeau edition.

Provenance: Front free endpaper with ex libris of Panof Grafsos Skinos, with shelving number; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Pettegree, Livres vernaculaires français 18447. Not in Adams; see Brunet, III, 207 for other eds. Binding as above, minor rubbing to extremities and light scuff to back cover; bookplates as above. Pages mildly age-toned; first text page with tiny nick to upper margin. Scarce edition ofa classic anti-woman romance with much influence throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, here in a distinguished, attractive signed binding. (37930)

 During the Seven Years War, Portugal gave support to her traditional ally Great Britain, especially the use of her ports, and with the entry of Spain into the war, the Spanish tried to put a stop to it. First they tried diplomacy, and when that failed they invaded their neighbor, as is here documented. They were beaten off by the Portuguese with British assistance, thus reinforcing Portuguese distrust of their Castilian neighbors and their close ties with Great Britain.

 Palau 307020. Wrappers stencilled in green with manuscript title on paper label affixed to front wrapper; all edges speckled red. Wrappers with a few tears and a little tattering. Small wormhole in front fly-leaf. A few pencil marks. Inked number on verso of front fly-leaf. (9044)

 First edition of this illustrated account, enlarged from the similarly titled 1976 exhibition catalogue. This isnumbered copy 213 of 250 printed, signed at the colophon by the author. Tucked into the pocket of the back pastedown is a facsimile copy of the marvelous color-printed, folding broadside invitation to the Ditchling Horticultural Society 98th Annual Show of 1920 that the Saint Dominic's Press originally produced.

 Pickering “Wreath” edition: The complete plays plus a glossary, all set in impressively minute but legible diamond type in double columns — The Tempest takes up just 16 pages — in a single, beautifully bound volume. Unillustrated but for the handsome frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by H. Robinson (dated 1832, as seen in other copies) and one cute circular vignette, it rather wondrously represents the day when fonts were not scalable with the touch of a button but when such dense yet clear text as this was laid in the composing stick line by line andtiny lead letter by tiny, individual lead letter.

Provenance: Front pastedown with Eton bookplate commemorating presentation to Gualterus Gulielmus Radcliffe [Walter William Radcliffe, 1847–1923], 1861. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Tonson's separate edition, with an engraved frontispiece by Paul Fourdrinier; it also opens the text with aterrific headpiece. Printed as part of the publishing war between Tonson and Walker, this edition bears an advertisement warning of the “innumerable Errors” of Walker's “Useless, Pirated, and Maim'd Editions.”

 ESTC T54732, covering also an edition of multiple plays that apparently shared plates with this series of stand-alones. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a light marbled paper wrapper. Pages mildly age-toned, otherwise clean. (35509)

 Both handsome and eminently readable: One of the most debate-provoking of Shakespeare's comedies, here printed in large and legible type and illustrated with36 particularly lovely, mounted, color-printed plates by Sir James D. Linton. This is the trade edition, rather than the numbered limited; it opens with Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch's prose retelling of the play's plot. This example preserves the now-uncommon original publisher's box, with affixed color illustration.

 Publisher's cream paper–covered boards with green linen shelfback, front cover with gilt-stamped title and vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original publisher's box as above; box and lid worn with several corners split (now neatly repaired) and edge label chipped; volume with very faint traces of wear to spine extremities, otherwise notably fresh and clean. A beautiful presentation. (36008)

 Attractive edition of the sonnets, produced with the Riccardi Press's attention to fine typography. The poems were edited by W.J. Craig, and printed by C.T. Jacobi in the Riccardi fount, with aKelmscott-style opening page.

This isnumbered copy 974 of 1012 printed (1000 on paper, 12 on vellum), this copy being on Riccardi handmade paper.

 Elegant production of Dowden's annotated critical edition of the Sonnets, first printed in 1881. The attractively printed and bound volume opens with an etched frontispiece
portrait of Shakespeare and a title-page printed in red and black.

 Two handwritten cards from Shaw to Mealand, regarding “this proposed G.B.S. – G.K.C. page.” At the time, Mealand was editor of Nash'sPall Mall Magazine (owned by the National Magazine Company, to which these cards are addressed); G.K.C. was Gilbert Keith Chesterton, famously one of Shaw's favorite philosophical sparring partners and possibly his most beloved enemy. The first card, from 15 May 1933, takes a lightly ridiculing tone in stating that the author cannot possibly interrupt his “serious work” to engage in such commercial business unless paid “an enormous sum” — whatever Mealand is paying Chesterton, to be specific; the second, from 21 June 1933, notes that Shaw's reply to Chesterton has already run long and “too heavy for the occasion,” and suggests his plans for revising it.

Sent from Shaw's home in Ayot St. Lawrence and postmarked in Hertfordshire, both cards areinscribed in Shaw's distinctive hand and signed with his initials.

 Cards crisp and clean, one with pair of staple holes.Delightful and characteristic Shavian ephemera. (37045)

 “One of the most popular of the 'Plays Pleasant' of Shaw's early dramatic period, and . . . the dramatist's first major commercial success in England, written at the height of his powers” (Letter, p. v): Two Shavian classics from the Limited Editions Club, here with an introduction by Alan Strachan. Clarke Hutton illustrated both works with a total of 40 black-and-white drawings and eight color-printed paintings; the volume was designed by John Dreyfus, printed by the Stinehour Press in Vermont, and bound in quarter Irish natural linen with paper-covered sides bearing portraits of Eliza and Candida, the spine title stamped in pure gold leaf.

This is numbered copy 897 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist. The appropriate Club prospectus and newsletter are laid in.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 478. Binding as above, in matching brown paper–covered slipcase with tan printed paper spine label; slipcase with two small splits in paper along spine, volume clean and fresh. (31978)

 This edition (limited to 1500 copies) of Two Plays for Puritans by George Bernard Shaw — the two plays being The Devil's Disciple and Caesar and Cleopatra — bears both a long preface by the author and notes written by him for each play.

George Him both illustrated and designed the book, and also signed the colophon. The book is heavily illustrated with a considerable number of black-and-white line-and-wash drawings and 14 full-page color illustrations which were hand-colored by the pochoir process at the studio of Walter Fischer. These drawings are both beautiful and witty. In one color plate, for example, we see a line of picketing Egyptian soldiers carrying placards reading, “Egypt for the Egyptians,” and “Caesar Go Home,” the latter appearing in “Egyptian Hieroglyphs”; in another plate, we are treated to a breathtaking scene of the library at Alexandria being consumed by fire; in yet another drawing,
we see an amusing little rendering of Belzanor's description of a seven-armed wife-eating Roman soldier!

Him chose a monotype Plantin font for the text which was printed in Bloomfield, Connecticut, at the Sign of the Stone Book. The binding is full bright red “vellum book-cloth” stamped on the front with a double-eagle (one American, one Roman) design in gold, and stamped on the spine in black and gold leaf with a design of a Roman legionary standard bearing the title and the author's initials. The endpapers are “nugget-gold” Tweedweave.

This offering does not include the monthly newsletter or the mailing notice.

 Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 381. A fine copy with the slipcase, which is covered in “nugget-gold” paper and stamped in black and gold. Slipcase showing traces of rubbing at top and bottom.
A great treat for a Shaw-lover! (21756)

 Handsome Limited Editions Club collection of Shelley's verse. Selected, edited,
and introduced byStephen Spender for the British poets series, the poems are here illustrated
with wood engravings by Richard Shirley Smith, in a volume designed by John Dreyfus and
printed at the University Printing House in Cambridge, using monotype Bembo on English wove
paper. The binding is quarter maroon goatskin with terra-cotta linen sides, the front cover
bearinga black oval medallion embossed with a portrait of the author (matching the LEC's
other British poets offerings) and the spine a gilt-stamped title.

Numbered copy 1082 of 1500 printed, this issigned at the colophon by the
illustrator. The appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus are laid in.


Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 443.
Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with spine sunned and a few
small edge chips, slipcase with one small nick at upper edge and label lightly rubbed, volume
clean and fresh. A very nice copy. (30712)

 Classical Chinese poetry in calligraphed format: This tiny rectangle of ivory (only about 4mm tall) is impossibly delicately etched with both the Chinese original and Fletcher's English translation of Wang Wei's Tang Dynasty-era poem “Xiang Si” (given here as “Love Seeds”). The xiang si bean (Abrus precatorius) is a Chinese symbol of love and longing; its small, shiny, red seeds were used as tokens of love, hence the reference in this poem: “The red bean grows in southern lands / With spring its slender tendrils twine / Gather for me some more, I pray / Of fond remembrance 'tis the sign.”

Additionally, both the Chinese and English texts are presented on a folded slip of paper, with additional commentary in Chinese characters only.

The ivory is mounted within a black frame affixed to a small square of gold paper, on red velvet, and contained in a beautiful, eminently displayable case covered in olive-green silk with a woven Asian-inspired knotwork pattern in bronze and blue, decorated with a Chinese-printed label on the front cover. The case closes with a fabric loop and white-painted wooden toggle.

 Box as above, showing the faintest hint of rubbing to one corner, overall in excellent condition. Small compartment beneath presentation window seems to indicate a long slender item was at one point laid in, but it is difficult to say what that might have been. (30544)

 One of either 12 or 25 copies printed on vellum (as per Alston in the former case, as per Oxford cataloguer and a contemporary note on title-page in the latter). John Bon was originally printed by Daye and Seres in London in 1548 (STC 3258.5) and is here reproduced in letterpress facsimile from a copy formerly owned by Richard Forster

Attributed to Luke Shepherd by Halkett and Laing, this is a satirical poem, a dialogue in verse, on the Eucharist, and could even be seen as a short play. It is printed in gothic (black letter) type witha large woodcut of a procession of the Eucharist on the title-page.

None of the copies reported to WorldCat, COPAC, or NUC are described as printed on vellum. The copy that Alston found at the British Library is not findable via the BL OPAC.

Provenance: Early 19th-century manuscript ownership on front fly-leaf: “Thomas Briggs Esq., Edgeware Road.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Alston, Books Printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library, p. 35; Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.), III, p. 192; Halkett & Laing (3rd ed.), J21 (var.) l NSTC, I, S1667. Original dun colored boards with beige linen shelfback; rebacked, and binding discolored. “25 copies Printed on chosen Parchment” written in ink in an early 19th-century hand in lower margin of the title-page. Foxing, heaviest on last three leaves; last page (a publisher's note and colophon) lightly inked and so a little faint. A nice find for the collector of printing on vellum, letterpress facsimiles, or reprints of rare 16th-century English tracts. (34699)

This isone of 475 copies on Batchelor's handmade Kelmscott paper; an additional seven were printed on vellum.

 Publisher's half vellum with printed paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; dust jacket lacking as now seen with most copies, vellum dust-soiled with a little rubbing, paper slightly darkened and with two small chips., small chip to paper at bottom edge of front cover and one to lower outer corner of back cover. Internally clean and crisp. Enjoyable. (34010)

Sherlock, William. The present state of the Socinian controversy, and the doctrine of the Catholick fathers concerning a trinity in unity. London: William Rogers, 1698. 4to (20.5 cm, 8.1"). [12], 388 pp.$575.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 Sole pre-20th-century edition of this important entry in the first Socinian controversy in the Church of England, from a learned divine noted for his pugnaciousness in print. The author's earlier Vindication of the Doctrine of the Holy and Ever Blessed Trinity, intended as an attack on Socianism, had led to accusations of tritheism and heresy; here he defends more orthodox doctrine on the subject. The main text is in English, with extensive shouldernotes in Latin and Greek.

 ESTC R8272; Wing (rev. ed.) S3325. Contemporary speckled calf, panelled with corner fleurons in blind, rebacked in similar calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled compartment decorations; sides acid-pitted, edges rubbed. All edges speckled red. Lower margin of title-page and lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped, no other markings. First few leaves foxed with scattered light spots elsewhere, last few signatures browned; one leaf with two small portions lost from outer margin; one outer corner torn away; one leaf torn across between header and text without any of this affecting text. A solid, tight, and dignified-looking copy. (35824)

Sherwin, William. [drop-title] The Irenicon, or peaceable consideration of Christs peaceful kingdom on earth abridged, wherein are sometimes reprinted the most considerable matters, and sometimes the substance of others is pointed out in the latter printed parcels, with many useful additions and emendations, 1674. [London: 1674]. 4to (18.7 cm, 7.4"). 48 pp.$500.00

Click the image for an enlargement.

 Uncommon abridged version of the Rev. Sherwin's Eirenikon (first published in 1665). The WorldCat record indicates that this self-contained item was likely published as “one of the appendices, separately signed and paginated 'divers things,' annexed to the 1674 edition of Sherwin's Prodromos . . . but possibly also issued separately.”

In this densely composed gathering of “the Evidences of Christs [sic] Kingdom and Reign on Earth to come under or after the seventh Trumpet” (p. 24), Sherwin, who was ejected from the Church of England following the Act of Uniformity, offers an examination ofApocalyptic prophecy.

WorldCat locatesonly four U.S. institutional holdings under this title.

 Halkett & Lang, III, 172. No record of this separate title in ESTC or Wing (1674 Prodromos: Wing S3410). Removed from a nonce volume; sewing strong. Pages evenly age-toned with scattered small spots of foxing. Scarce. (37222)

Sherwin, William. [One line of Greek, romanized as] Logos peri logou; or the vvord vvritten, concerning the vvord everliving, viz. As touching his glorious kingly office on Earth to come. Witnessing, that Christ Jesus shall have a visible glorious kingdome in the world, consisting of the converted Jews and Gentiles in one sheep-fold under him; of the quick in this life, and raised saints in the time of his said glorious kingdome, and of the highest angels worshipping him, and of inferiour creatures bowing the knee unto him. Confirmed by many demonstrative arguments from the holy scriptures, and many divine reasons strongly evincing the same truths. London: Printed for Francis Smith, and are to be sold at the Elephant and Castle, without Temple-Bar, [1670]. 4to. [5], 32 (i.e., 31) pp.$65.00

Click the image for an enlargement.

 Original edition, not a modern reprint. Text of title-page surrounded by a ruled border, and containing some words in Greek and Hebrew. Text incorporates some ornamental initials and typographic headpieces.

 An exemplar of an early and important English gift book series, one Faxon describes as “The first attempt to rival the numerous and elegant publications of the continent,”
in only its sixth annual appearance. This volume includes pieces by Mary Russell Mitford, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, and Felicia Hemans, among others. It is illustrated with a total of14 engraved plates, including the beautiful embossed presentation leaf here in unused state. Several engravers, including E. Finden, S. Davenport, and A.W. Warren, modeled their work after various artists.

Owner's modification: The word “Pax” is neatly printed in black ink on the book's back cover, gently arced above the engraving; and “Roosevelt” has been similarly added to the back of the slipcase, with “Post Lux Tenebras” being artfully placed below the engraving.

 Faxon 1303. Binding as above, back inside cover with brown silk pull-tab intact, joints very skillfully refurbished with long fiber and then toned; extremities gently rubbed. Front free endpaper pencilled with old bookseller annotations. Pages and plates generally clean with very occasional light foxing; guard leaves with predictable offsetting. Case somewhat rubbed with extremities chipped at corners but completely sound and with the described embellishments. A lovely little gift book, with the original (and early for its kind) slipcase. (36042)

 Partially unopened copy of the first edition of Shoberl's indictment of the Catholic Church for the oppression of dissenters in the pre-Reformation era and of Protestants beginning with the Reformation. The chapters generally address one dissenting group each, and the history of the Church's reaction to it.

 Bound as above, spines sunned and upper corners bumped; tops of spines slightly discolored and each with slight tearing in same area. A few gatherings carelessly opened, in one case with upper outer corners torn across yet no actual loss. Ex–social club library, and each volume has: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, no other markings. A nice set. (28758)

 A rare glimpse into the earliest days of Philadelphia, this unique document waswritten within four years of the city's founding (1682). Widow Elizabeth Shorter was a London glover who moved to Pennsylvania with her grandson Isaac Knight about 1683 and was one of theFirst Purchasers, that select group of 751 individuals who bought the first offering of land from William Penn. She was certainly in contact with Penn by 1681, when he signed an indenture to her in London; two years later, he signed an official land grant confirming the location and cost of her 250-acre plot. Witness to the lack of government structure at the time, beingwritten on scrap paper and without any official notarization, the deed in hand documents the sale of widow Shorter's “housing in the front street of Delawar with my lott” to Christopher Libthorpe for the sum of one hundred pounds sterling.

Indited in secretary hand with witnesses' signatures in both italic and secretary, the deed is followed by two blank pages on the interior (as usual); the witnesses were John Morroy (Morrey?) and John Best (Lest?), who both had fine signatures. Not unexpectedly, the widow signed with her mark. A docket on the last leaf's verso reads, “Xher [Christopher] Libthorpe To George Rothe” and another, in a second hand, adds, “and a Deed from Pickering to Post for a lot,” with a computation below on the same page.

The watermark appears to be a heart-shaped shield crowned by a fleur de lis, or trefoil; however we find no match in Briquet or Gravell.

 Parry, E.C., “A Widow's Might,” Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. XXVII, 1966. For the early history of Philadelphia, its incidents and denizens, see: Watson, Annals of Philadelphia (1850). Previously folded in multiple places, and now along bifolium crease only; four small holes in the upper corner where previously stapled or pinned. “Lacing,” a result of the iron gall ink's exposure to moisture, is in evidence here but does not affect the legibility or stability of the deed, which is neatly repaired in two places at the outer edge of the first recto near the remnants of the red wax seal. An attractive relic of colonial American, Pennsylvania/Philadelphia, commercial, and women's history. (29823)

 Handsome Nonesuch edition of the sonnet sequence — this being one of the works chosen for celebration on the cover of the Nonesuch bibliography. The text was edited by Mona Wilson, and printed by the Kynoch Press in Bembo and Union Pearl Italics on Van Gelder paper.

This isnumbered copy 970 of 1210 printed (725 for sale in England and 485 in the United States).

 Handsome folio printing of the Arcadia, opening with a strongly impressed copper-engraved portrait of Sidney done after Elstrack, and accompanied by a “Life and Death; a brief Table of the principal Heads, and some other new Additions.” Along with the title work, this stated 13th edition contains Sidney's sonnets, “The defence of poesie,” “Astrophel and Stella,” “Her Most Excellent Majestie walking in Wanstead Garden,” “A supplement [not by Sidney] to the third book of Arcadia,” and “A remedie for love.” Richard Bellings's sixth book of the Arcadia, originally published separately in 1624, here appears with a separate title-page, also dated 1674; the pagination and register are continuous.

Provenance: “Judith Tichborn her book given me by my most renowned and beloved knight Stephen de la Stanly 1713.”

 ESTC R21446; Wing (rev. ed.) S3770. Period-style mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in blind fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped title. Pages age-toned and foxed with occasional small inkspots; some paginations trimmed and frontispiece edges slightly ragged. One early leaf with tear in lower margin, extending into text, repaired with two words from opposing page partially lifted by adhesion; one leaf with small hole affecting about eight words; one leaf with tear in outer margin touching final letters of seven lines; occasional edge chips, one upper outer corner torn away. A very readable copy in a dignified binding; a romantic tale with a romantic inscription. (33123)

 Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel about the last years of the reign of Nero Caesar appeared in 1896. This work, along with his trilogy on the 17th-century wars between the Russians, Turks, Swedes, and his native Poland, was first translated into English by the multilingual Jeremiah Curtin, who first came across Siekiewicz's writings by peering over the shoulder of a man reading a Polish newspaper in a Washington streetcar; that translation appears here. Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize in 1905, and spent the remainder of his life aiding Poles who suffered during the German invasion in World War I. He died in 1916.

Harold Lamb wrote the introduction. Of the author's attention to the minutiae of daily life in the Rome of A.D. 63–66 he writes, “The city itself appears in exact historical detail. Praetorians idling at their posts pass the time with their favorite dice games; girl attendants at Petronius' bath finish their duties punctiliously and break away to their own diversions as soon as the door curtain falls behind the master. Sienkiewicz knows how the dishes, including blackbirds, were prepared for a nobleman's feast; he knows what the oriental dancers wore on their heads and what the priests of Cybele carried in their hands, and what you see when you round a corner of the Vicus Sceleratus.”

Salvatore Fiume created the 35 drawings which were reproduced in three-tone process and mounted by hand. Giovanni Madersteig designed this edition, which is limited to 1500 copies, choosing a monotype Old Face font; the composition and printing of the text and illustrations was done by Madersteing at the Officina Bodoni in Verona.

The binding is full natural linen printed, in grey-blue, with an overall pattern derived from an old wood engraving. The signatures of Salvatore Fiume and Giovanni Madersteig appear on the colophon.

 Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 302. In the original slipcase, spine sunned with a long closed crack to paper and paper cracked/chipped; case good overall. Book with spine lightly faded and rear pastedown with small gold bookseller's label; volume in the original dust jacket (spine sunned to darker than sides are); near fine. (22293)

 Carolus Sigonius (Italian Carlo Sigonio or Sigone, 1524–84) was a professor at the University of Bologna and a leading humanist noted as being the first to apply “accurate criticism . . . to the chronology of Roman history” (Sandys). His history of the western Roman Empire covers the period from 284—the beginning of the reign of Diocletian, who divided the empire into east and west—until Justinian’s death in 565. In addition, Sigonius wrote a number of works in law and classical studies and a history of the kingdom of Italy from the Lombard invasion in 568 through the 13th century.

This is this history’s first edition and was followed by 1579, 1593, and 1628 editions. It is printed with a woodcut printer’s device on the title-page showing the goddess Liberty with two books labelled “Bononia docet” (“Bologna teaches”) at her feet. The text is enclosed in double-ruled borders and simply ornamented with a few woodcut initials, one of which shows Juno being pulled in her chariot by peacocks.

 Adams S1117; Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . S524. On Sigonius, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XXV, 82; and Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 143–45. Full calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt beading; tan leather title label; fillets in blind extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils with blind double fillets beyond. Pages lightly washed, clean, and crisp: a few instances of staining, not obscuring text; a few short notations in ink and occasional worming in the margins, neither affecting text; ink stain on p. 95 obscuring letters without loss of sense. Inked title on lower edge, old style. Three ink ownership stamps on title-page. EEe3–4, the last two leaves of the index, are lacking. (4561)

 “Polymath” is the term most often applied to Siguenza y Gongora (1645–1700), and indeed he was a cosmographer, philosopher, chronicler, poet, biographer, historian, cartographer, and priest.

Here he is wearing the hats of a chronicler and a biographer, as he, “an intellectual friend of Sor Juana [Ines de la Cruz] and at the same time a man of science and religiosity, [writes] the history of the convent of Jesus Maria and the biography of some of its notable nuns.” His Parayso occidental is “a classic example of baroque[-era] writing on the monastic life of nuns [in Mexico]” (both quotations from Lavrin, p. 205). As such, the volume is important; and even apart from its association with the Spanish world's Tenth Muse,” it isa basic starting place for the study of nuns, the economics of nunneries, and the political life of the same.

As is increasingly the case with Mexican imprints of the 17th century, it islittle found in the marketplace.

Provenance: 18th-century ownership signature on title-page and first leaf of preliminaries of the Conde del Fresno de la Fuente.

 Medina, Mexico, 1328; Palau 312973; Asuncion Lavrin, “Cotidianidad y espiritualidad en la vida conventual novohispana: Siglo XVII,” in Memoria del Coloquio Internacional Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz y pensamiento novohispano (1995). Late 19th-century Mexican quarter dark green morocco with mottled green paper sides; binding rubbed and abraded. Pencilling on front fly-leaf and title-page verso; top margins closely cropped occasionally costing top of letters of running heads and foliation. Worming, chiefly in margins but occasionally into the text, not costing words, sometimes repaired; first and last few leaves with old repairs to corners and margins and a bit of text restored in pen and ink. Withal, a good++ copy of important work that is not often on the market. (34203)

The American Revolutionary War — Firsthand Account of an Elite Fighting Force

Simcoe, John Graves. Simcoe's military journal. A history of the operations of a partisan corps, called the Queen's Rangers, commanded by Lieut. Col. J.G. Simcoe, during the war of the American Revolution.... New York: Bartlett & Welford, 1844. 8vo (23.8 cm, 9.4"). xvii, [3], [13]–328 pp.; 10 fold. plts.$1000.00

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 First U.S. edition, following the English first of 1787: The exploits of one of the most famous Loyalist regiments, led by Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the man who later became the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The volume featuresten oversized, folding maps lithographed by Endicott (several after Simcoe's own drawings, others from Lt. Spencer and other officers of the troop), depicting the topography and troop deployments at various battle sites in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, and Virginia.

 Sabin 81135; Howes S461; American Imprints 44-5635. Publisher's plain paper–covered boards, recently rebacked with olive green cloth, spine with new antiqued printed paper label; paper rubbed and stained. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page and sectional title, no other markings. All leaves affected by an unusual sort of very light and remarkably even waterstaining that left the upper outer corners (only) untouched and even bright, with a variously wavy line of light to moderate brown marking the “border”; otherwise a few other pages with other soiling or staining; one page with smudge of green ink, touching but not obscuring text; one leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text; and a bit of cockling. An excellent example of a good book that has suffered accidents but also is “better than it sounds.” (29420)

 First edition of this pseudonymously published work on the history of Church finances, written by a controversial French Oratorian priest much attacked for his published arguments that Moses had not written the whole of the Pentateuch. Simon, an accomplished Hebrew scholar, was later lauded by the New Catholic Encyclopedia as the “father of Biblical criticism.”

Provenance: Signature on title-page of Howard Osgood, a prominent late 19th- and early 20th-century Hebrew scholar and noted collector.

 First edition: 20 stories incorporating some of Singer's favorite themes, many translated by Singer himself in collaboration with his nephew or with other authors and editors. This copy isinscribed by the author on the half-title, dated 1975.

 Publisher's quarter orange cloth and dark green paper–covered sides, spine with title stamped in silver, in original dust jacket; jacket with spine extremities lightly worn, edges of back panel darkened, upper inner front corner and upper back corner each with short tear. One page with light smudge to lower outer margin. A nice copy of a signed Singer first edition. (34092)

 Cleverly marketed and in fact valuable Chiswick Press reprint. of two humorous Elizabethan short story collections, first Tales, and Quicke Answeres, Very Mery, and Pleasant to Rede from the edition printed by Berthelet around 1535, and second A C. Mery Talys from John Rastell’s edition, printed about 1525. Singer had in 1814 issued the first title alone as Shakspeare’s Jest Book, believing it was quite probably a collection of facetiae drawn on for Much Ado about Nothing;then, in 1815, after a scholar had discovered the second work disguised within a pasteboard, he promptlyprinted the two together to correct “the fallacy of our [first] gesture” — for, surely, the second was the referenced text!

This offering consists of the aforementioned two parts anda supplement with 26 extra tales taken from a newly discovered (in 1815) edition printed in 1567 by H. Wykes of theTales, and Quicke Answeres. Each section has a separate title-page and introduction explaining its Shakespearean connection and origin story, with canvassing also of the editor’s scholarly processes and his decisions to offer his tales with original orthography, in their full “licentiousness,” and with their original “moral reflections.” A short glossary of Elizabethan words is provided, and the second preface is signed in type “S.W.S.,” i.e., Samuel Weller Singer.

Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 19th-century half black morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine lettered in gilt, with differently patterned marbled endpapers and black silk placemarker, top edge gilt; rubbed at corners and edges. Light age-toning with very occasional off-setting and a few spots, light pencilling referencing a 1925 Goodspeed’s price on title-page.A testament to 19th-century Shakespeare mania and a resonant, even cautionary tale for scholars of any ilk in any era. (37850)

 First edition, with twelve engraved plates by George Wright and a signed binding stamped “FBS” on the front cover (this is the A state binding, per BAL)  being the monogram of Frank Berkeley Smith, the author's son.

Provenance: Booklabel of C.C. Gowran (“Handle me gently . . . ”).

 BAL 18242. Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine stamped in white and gilt; stamping and extremities showing just a touch of rubbing, with a small bump to one edge, otherwise clean and fresh. Front pastedown with booklabel as above. A very pleasing copy. (33626)

 Beautiful facsimile of the London, 1624 edition, printed by offset lithography in Italy on specially made laid paper. The work is illustrated with reproductions of contemporary portraits and maps, and accompanied by a booklet containing a historical introduction by A.L. Rowse and bibliographical notes by Robert O. Dougan.

Binding: Publisher's vellum with cloth ties, front cover with gilt-stamped coat of arms of James I, spine with gilt-stamped title.

 Smith is remembered in art circles as a very accomplished water color artist and it was that work that attracted the attention of George Greville, second earl of Warwick. The earl became Smith's patron and sent him Italy where he produced such works as “Outside Porta Pia, Rome” (now in the Tate collection) and “Interior of the Coliseum” (now in the British Museum); “his Italian pictures . . . are considered Smith's best” (ODNB).

Toward the end of the 18th century (1792–1799), Smith produced the first edition of this work, laden with72 engravings (by various artisans) after his original watercolors. This second edition of his Select Views in Italy was not issued with a title-page, although some copies have a copy (reprinting?, remainder sheet?) of the first edition's; it begins instead with a splendidly calligraphicengraved dedication leaf reading, “Italian scenery. To the Queen's most Excellent Majesty this Collection of Select Views in italy is with Her Majesty's gracious permission Humbly dedicated by Her most obedient and devoted Servant, John Smith.” Dated in text 18 January 1817, the leaf was designed by Tomkins and engraved by Ashby; at its bottom, as on a title-page, is “London[,] J. Smith, W. Byrne, & J. Edwards.”

The text in this edition, bilingual inEnglish and French, is the same as that of the first edition; but it was entirely reset and the plates are restrikes of those of the first edition, with the original imprints removed and the numeration moved to the top of the plates. This is, therefore, a particularly interesting object toset beside an example of its first edition!

Provenance: No bookplates or inscriptions, but spine with initials “G.O.B.” tooled at base.

Smith, Samuel. The great assize, or, Day of iubilee delivered in foure sermons, upon the 20 chapt. of the Revel. ver. 12, 13, 14, 15: whereunto are annexed two sermons upon the I. chapter of the Canticles, vers. 6, 7. London: Printed by Iohn Okes, and are to be sold by H. Blunden at his shop in Corn-hill neare the Royall Exchange, 1637.
8vo (14.1 cm; 5.625"). [6], 182, 185–307, [3], 309–88, 373–86. Lacks added engr. t.-p. & pp. 183–84.$850.00

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 Smith (1584–1665), an English clergyman and trusted mentor of theologian Richard Baxter (1615–91), produced several often reprinted publications, of which this is one. This edition of six sermons is advertised as “the ninth impression, corrected, amended, and and much enlarged,” but an interesting prefatory note from the printer claims it is the first truly correct edition as Smith was “dwelling far distant from the City, and having a Pastorall charge to attend upon, could not attend the Press” for earlier printings.

Copies of any early edition of this text are scarce, andsearches of NUC, COPAC, and OCLC reveal only three known copies, this copy one of only two in North America, and now deacessioned. Two other reported copies in COPAC are false. The other North American copy is described in the library's catalogue record as “Imperfect: leaves B4-B5, C3 and V7 lacking; faded and stained in places, spine broken; covers detached.”

 ESTC S4905; STC (rev. ed.) 22849.7. On Smith, see: DNB (online). Contemporary calf, Cambridge–style binding with raised bands ruled in blind and gilt-lettered red leather spine label, covers double framed and panelled in blind, board edges rolled in gilt; rebacked, new endpapers, added engraved title-page and one leaf of text.lacking, covers rubbed with some loss of leather. Moderate age-toning with the very occasional spot;; two leaves with corners torn and loss of a letter or two but not sense, one with a small hole, another two repaired. Bookplates as described above, call numbers on title-page verso, rubber-stamp on title-page and one leaf of text. Imperfect, but worthwhile. (36326)

 Sole edition: Eleven Hungarian folk songs translated into singable English, with the music and lyrics accompanied by masonite relief cuts done by Dorian McGowan and printed in rose. Snodgrass has supplied an afterword explaining the songs' origins and offering performance suggestions.

The volume was printed for Charles Seluzicki, a poetry bookseller in Baltimore, MD, by Claire Van Vliet and Victoria Fraser at the Janus Press. This isnumbered copy 236 of 300 printed (of which 15 were hors commerce), signed at the limitation statement by Snodgrass.

 Socinus, a jurist-theologian from Siena, first met with Polish Antitrinitarians in 1578. He moved to Krakow in 1580 and devoted the rest of his life to fostering a cohesive religious movement that denied the Holy Trinity based on rational exegesis of Scripture. While Socinianism and the Radical Reformation won many followers, Socinus (Fausto Sozzini, 1539–1604) was also attacked — in writing and, in 1594 and 1598, on the street!

These
are the first two volumes of the only edition, first issue, of the first and
most important collection of Socinian documents. The title-page,
table of contents, and preface to the first volume introduce and illuminate
the series Bibliotheca fratrum polonorum as a whole, that having comprised
ten tomes published clandestinely ca. 1665–92 by the Polish Brethren called
Unitarians. The near-complete works of Socinus himself, leading that parade
of texts, occupy these first two, which were actually published three years
after vols. III–V (by Johann Crell and Jonasz Szlichtyng), all withfalse
imprints.

Excerpts of Socinus's acrid debates with protagonists of the Reformation on baptism, redemption, (im)mortality, and the nature of Christ pervade the present volumes. A chapter of letters to friends (vol. I) includes exchanges not only with the founder of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church Francis Dávid and a Polish noblewoman named Sophia Siemichovia, but also Marcello Squarcialupi, Matthäus Radecke, Jan Niemojewski, Johannes Völkel, and Christophorus Ostorodt, among others.

The minister-turned-printer Kuyper (1629–91) produced only Socinian works in the decade 1663–73, many edited by Andreas Wissowatius, Socinus's grandson who had an influential hand in the present opera. The printer Samuel Przypkowski, whose shop produced earlier volumes in the series of which these are a part, contributed the brief biography of Socinus here; and he has graced the text with refined tailpieces, large initials against a floriated background, and woodcut devices to the section titles (some initialed “HB” for printer Hendrick Boom). There are occasional Hebrew references in vol. II.

 Antonio de Solis was a dramatist and historian whose Historia de la conquista de México, población y progresos de la América septentrional, conocida por el nombre de Nueva España remains a prose classic.He is known to have written only ten plays: Eight are present here.

 Somerville (1675–1742) was a country squire whose considerable landholding enabled him to pursue his twofavorite pastimes of hunting and writing poetry while serving occasionally as a magistrate.

His “major poem was The Chace, published in 1735 and dedicated to Frederick, prince of Wales. In four books of blank verse he conveyed the excitement and dangers of the chase as well as its place in history” (ODNB).

This is the third edition, printed by William Bowyer for Hawkins, in an edition of 1500 copies, attesting to the poem'sgreat popularity. A fourth edition followed in the same year and it continued to be printed in the 18th century with an edition appearing as late as 1800, and yet others in the 19th century!

 Sophocles's classic tragedy, here in a handsome Limited Editions Club edition with the original Greek and a poetic English translation by Elizabeth Wyckoff printed on facing pages. The introduction is by D.S. Carne-Ross and Harry Bennett painted the eight dramatically rendered, full-color plates; Bennett also provided a number of smaller monochrome images. The volume was designed by Bram de Does, printed by Joh. Enschedé in Antigone (Greek) and Lutetia (roman/italic) types on Schut wove rag paper; it was bound by Jansen of Leyden in dark red linen printed in black with an all-over wash design by de Does.

Numbered copy 897 of 2000 printed, this issigned at the colophon by the artist.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 489. Binding as above, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, in original coordinated slipcase; binding crisp and fresh, slipcase all but unworn. A very nice copy. (31469)

 First edition of this English translation: Faux memoirs of Napoleon's exploits and those of his intimates, sometimes attributed to Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza. Caulaincourt was a French general, diplomat, and close friend of Napoleon who accompanied the Emperor to Russia — but he was not in fact responsible for this work, which was written by Charlotte de Sor, a.k.a. Comtesse d'Eilleaux (née Désormeaux). De Sor depicts both Caulaincourt and Napoleon as romantic heroes.

 Only edition of this history of the Milanese Church, in Italian, by the prefect of Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Nicolò Sormani (d. ca. 1777); he affirms its apostolic origin, i.e., the legend of St. Barnaba, chiefly by way of a syllogism declaring the authority of oral tradition — that a tradition is true if it is antique and there is no reason to doubt it; that the legend of St. Barnaba's founding the Church is old and inscrutable; and that therefore her legend is true — though an appendix supplies the reader with original documents he nonetheless cites, and an editor's note observes that he himself translated many of them from Latin into Italian for the first time. With this publication, Sormani continued his quest to quell the belligerent hordes of sophists and provocateurs who questioned ecclesiastical traditions, having first published a treatise on the subject in 1740 (De origine apostolica ecclesia Mediolanensis a s. Barnaba apostolo deducta), as the first dissertation in a two-part volume; but this is the only production in the vernacular.

The Italian text is accompanied by citations and original documentation, which is in both Italian and, mostly, Latin; it is printed in roman and italic, with one large floriated woodcut initial and a decorative headpiece at the beginning of the first chapter. The final leaf contains the imprimatur and errata.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, one of which has been deaccessioned.

 Contemporary vellum over boards with four laces visible on covers at spine extremities, gilt title in painted spine compartment, red marbled edges; binding somewhat soiled and bumped and a bit warped, with light worming not penetrating the leather. Title rubbed affecting a few letters; a light brown stain running along the gutter on two leaves and a crescent stain at the bottom of one other not affecting text; small tears at a couple of outer margins; and a handful of natural paper flaws, especially notable to two leaves that literally came up short in the press and therefore have “deckle” lower edges. Old pressure-stamps to title-leaf and a few others, a five-digit accession number stamped in two places, old library pencillings, indications of removed bookplates and card pocket; minor dampstaining, foxing, and age-toning throughout, most notable in the first and last two gatherings. Recital of faults and “library features” makes this sound much less appealing than it is.This is a sound, attractive, pleasing book. (29568)